Test-and-slaughter program a work in progress, G&F says
WHITNEY ROYSTER Star-Tribune environmental reporter | Posted: Monday, February 26, 2007 12:00 am
JACKSON - A test-and-slaughter program for elk on the Muddy Creek feedground near Pinedale has ended for the year, with only one successful trapping effort resulting in 13 elk being shipped to slaughter.
Wyoming Game and Fish Director Terry Cleveland said the department was disappointed with the results, considering the amount of resources and effort put into the program - and the fact that it is a pilot project and "we want to gather as much information as we can during this time to enhance our knowledge of the disease."
On Jan. 29, 173 elk were trapped at Muddy Creek. Of those, 79 were adult females and had blood drawn.
Of those, 13 tested seropositive for brucellosis, which means the animals were been exposed to the disease and have antibodies.
That is not an indicator that the elk can transmit the disease, however. Further tests for the brucellosis bacteria, cultured from tissue taken at the slaughter facility, may indicate the elk have the disease and could transmit the disease. Preliminary results showed that eight of the 13 slaughtered elk have tested positive for the culture.
"Researchers warn that culture negatives are often inconclusive, because the process is dependent upon selecting the exact tissue that harbors the bacteria," Chris Colligan, brucellosis information and education specialist for Game and Fish said in an e-mail.
In 2006, 58 elk were shipped to slaughter after trapping efforts.
Some have criticized Game and Fish for shipping animals to slaughter for simply testing positive for being exposed to the disease because they may be the animals with natural antibodies to brucellosis and should be kept in the herd.
Dr. Terry Kreeger, wildlife veterinarian for the Game and Fish, said there is no such thing as a natural antibody to brucellosis an animal has to have been infected with the bacteria to develop antibodies. And, even that antibody can go away over time.
"We are not removing animals that for some reason have a higher ability to withstand the disease," Kreeger said. "That is not what this is about."
In fact, Kreeger said Game and Fish has a series of tests it runs on bloodwork, and animals have to show a high reaction to all the tests to be considered exposed to brucellosis.
Those series of tests indicate "those most likely to be infected with brucellosis," according to a Game and Fish fact sheet.
"Researchers are hoping to identify a more reliable scientific predictor of brucellosis culture positive from a seropositive elk, with the five blood tests being used," as part of the pilot project, according to the agency. "This will help ensure that elk that are slaughtered were actually infected and capable of transmitting the disease."
Bob Wharff, executive director for Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, who served on the Governor's Brucellosis Task Force, said he hasn't heard particularly vocal opposition to the program.
"By no means am I going to tell you that everyone that hunts and fishes in this state agrees with it," he added
Wharff said history has shown that testing dairy cows and killing those cows infected with brucellosis was successful, and it did not require killing all the cows. Perhaps a similar approach with elk would work, he said.
"It's probably unpalatable to think that we are killing animals that are infected, but the big picture is to eradicate brucellosis, and short of eradicating all our elk, a viable alternative is test and slaughter," Wharff said.
Cleveland said the department will not know the effectiveness of the program until the five-year pilot study is complete, though he said he understands criticism of the project.
Criticism that the test-and-slaughter program is the first attempt at eradicating brucellosis, he said, is unfounded.
A brucellosis vaccination program was initiated under the leadership of Tom Thorne, and there have been feedground habitat improvement projects in an attempt to have elk be less reliant on feed.
Congregating elk through feed has been shown to be more conducive to disease transmission.
Cleveland said increase the size of feedgrounds may not be a solution. Animals on the National Elk Refuge, a 25,000-acre area, have an average brucellosis infection rate of about 15 percent. Since 2003, brucellosis rates on state-run feedgrounds have varied widely, from 9 percent to 37 percent, with an average infection rate of 23.5 percent, according to a Game and Fish paper on elk feedgrounds.
Cleveland also said if test-and-slaughter is found to be effective, it could only be effective if it was done in the entire ecosystem.
Wharff said Wyoming needs to show the federal government it is working to eradicate the disease, and this program could show some success.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has made overtures that it will take over the brucellosis problem if Wyoming does not, and Wharff said that could mean a broader killing of wildlife.
Cleveland said there is "no simple solution" to solving the brucellosis issue in wildlife.
"Wyoming is just trying to do its best to progressively try to figure out if there's a better way to address this problem. This is one way," he said.
The program is part of ongoing litigation, as conservation groups filed suit seeking an injunction late last year against the test-and-slaughter program, saying it was authorized on Forest Service land without adequate environmental analysis. The court has not ruled on the injunction.
Tim Preso, an attorney with Earthjustice, which is representing the groups, said he is hopeful there will be a resolution before next winter, but it is unclear when the judge will rule.
Bridger-Teton National Forest officials have said they will begin an environmental analysis on the feeding program on national forest lands beginning this year.
In 2006, the cost of the trapping program was $342,848.
Game and Fish plans on expanding the pilot project next year to the Fall Creek feedground, and the following year to the Scab Creek feedground. No more than 10 percent of the herd unit can be sent to slaughter under the pilot project.
Game and Fish has received appropriations for the cost of two more traps for the next two winters.
Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at royster@tribcsp.com.